Monday, October 26, 2015

This year's holiday.........

Having missed out on a holiday last year I was determined to make an effort this year and Teresa and myself decided on a 13 night "Canaries Cruise" from Southampton from 27.Sept to 10.Oct taking in The Azores, Madeira, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Lisbon before returning to Southampton.
We had done a similar cruise about four years ago and I'd thoroughly enjoyed it as the time at sea had given me plenty of time for seawatching, this particular cruise appealed as it offered six and a half days at sea.
The first couple of days sailing to The Azores gave me plenty of scope for seawatching but being the only passenger out of a total of 2,850 with an interest in seabirds and cetaceans does have it's drawbacks and I probably missed a hundred times more then I saw.......

Plenty of Cory's and lesser numbers of Great Shearwaters and the odd skua but everything was always a little distant from the ship, I did get a few Pom Skuas with one really close but unfortunately couldn't manage any photos.
We had a Whale and Dolphin Watching trip booked at our first stop at Ponta Delgada on the Azores but due to a heavy swell we were given early notice that it had been cancelled, this was a major disappointment as the Azores is one of the best places in the world for whale watching.
A hurried rearrangement got me on a similar trip out of our second stop which was Madeira, this was on a RIB which Teresa would have struggled to cope with so I did the excursion on my own.
It was reasonably calm on the day and we soon came across a nice group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins which were a cetacean "tick" for me and they came in really close to the inflatable allowing great views and photo opportunities........

The boat trip out of Funchal also gave me the chance of getting closer to some Cory's Shearwaters and Arctic Terns within the port.....

Friend and fellow "togger" Peter Morgan had taken a land holiday on Lanzarote back in August and had enjoyed a great morning out in the company of local bird guide Carmen Ernest Portella picking up some of the local speciality species.
Peter provided her contact details and I e-mailed Carmen prior to our departure and arranged a full day out with Carmen picking me up at the port entrance at just after 8.00am, after a short drive we were soon making our way along the volcanic desert tracks in search of Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser, Trumpeter Finch and Berthelot's Pipit the first three being "lifers" if I was able to connect !!

Great Grey Shrikes ssp "koenigi" were plentiful as were Trumpeter Finch and Berthelot's Pipits although the only close finch was a juvenile, a couple of Hoopoes were also seen and a small group of Cattle Egrets mingled with a herd of goats.
A couple of groups of Barbary Partridge were seen but we struggled for Houbara Bustards until late in the day when several were seen although always making their way away from us........

If only the rest of the birds were as approachable as Stone Curlew which were really confiding as well as being plentiful if only easy to see when they moved, one field checked late in the day must have held at least 20 birds........

Try as we may we were struggling to see the one bird that I really wanted which was Cream-coloured Courser and we used the last couple of hours of late afternoon trying our hardest, I have to commend Carmen for her endeavour, we drove track after track but to no avail, on this occasion the bird eluded us, still there's always next time on a return trip to Lanzarote and another day out with Carmen.
Our cruise ended with two days at sea on our final leg from our last port of call Lisbon back to Southampton skirting the Bay of Biscay and many of the same seabirds were seen along with good numbers of Common Dolphins and the occasional distant rorqual whale blow.....

A wonderful holiday on a great ship, we met some fabulous people and my day out birding on Lanzarote brought me three "lifers" in Houbara Bustard, Trumpeter Finch and Barbary Partridge, curse those bloody Cream-coloured Coursers !!!